Montgomery, Alabama

Montgomery, the capital city of Alabama, is nicknamed the "Capital City of the American South" due to its growth during the South's tumultuous history and its strong, diverse economy. Borne from contrasting ideals, Montgomery was long at the center of historical events in the South and has turned its historical diversity into one of its strongest modern assets. The city continues to embrace its traditional roots, such as agricultural production, but has also taken in high technology, auto manufacturing, and financial services as economic drivers.

Landscape

Located on the southern bank of the Alabama River in the state's east-central area (the so-called "River Region"), Montgomery occupies 159 square miles within Montgomery County. The area around Montgomery is largely flat with a few rolling hills.

The city is located about 90 miles south of the state's largest city, Birmingham, and about 160 miles northeast of Mobile. It is also located about 80 miles west of Columbus, Georgia. The largest nearby metropolitan area is Atlanta, Georgia, which is about 160 miles northeast of Montgomery.

The city continues to develop, particularly along the Alabama River. There is a large amount of open space used for parks along the river's shoreline in the city. Among the city's open spaces is the 57,000-square-foot Shakespeare Garden. The city also has three large public golf courses.

Montgomery's climate is generally warm and about eighty degrees Fahrenheit in the summer and fifty degrees Fahrenheit in the winter. Snow is a rare occurrence, but rain occurs frequently from June through September. The city is located 221 feet above sea level.

People

The city of Montgomery had an estimated population of 198,665 residents in 2021, according to the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey. In 2020, more than half of the population—60.8 percent—is Black or African American, while 31.5 percent of the population is white. Asian Americans and people of Hispanic or Latino descent each represent 3.2 percent and 3.8 percent of the city's population, respectively.

Montgomery is a young city, with nearly one-quarter of its residents under the age of eighteen as of 2020 data. The capital's many colleges and universities contribute to this statistic, including one of the city's largest universities, Alabama State.

The city itself is also an attractive option for Alabamians. The majority of Montgomery's city's workers also reside within city limits. The relatively low cost of living works well for residents, whose median household income was approximately $49,608 (in 2020 dollars) between 2016 and 2020, according to the US Census Bureau. The city was ranked 154th in the country in terms of job growth and 98th in terms of the cost of doing business by Forbes magazine in 2018. Montgomery's cost of living was approximately 8 percent lower than the national average in 2018.

Continued development in the downtown area contributes to a vibrant social scene for residents. In addition to the city's college and riverfront attractions, Montgomery boasts at its center the historic Cloverdale district. The historic community has both quiet streets and bustling restaurants and shopping centers.

Every year, Montgomery hosts a number of events, including the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, which holds roughly ten productions year-round and annually draws hundreds of thousands of visitors.

Economy

Traditionally, the economy of Montgomery was reflective of the rich soil on which it was built. Cotton, dairy, and other agricultural products were long staples of the Montgomery economic system. Similarly, the longtime presence of a thriving cattle industry continues to provide an important boost to the region.

However, agriculture is not the only contributor to the Montgomery economy. In fact, Montgomery is a major distribution and regional trade center for the entire southeastern United States. Sand and gravel, grains, lumber, chemicals, food, furniture, and metal all are processed and transferred from Montgomery to other markets throughout the region.

The largest employer in the city is the US Air Force. More than twelve thousand workers were employed by Maxwell Gunter Air Force Base as of 2018, according to the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce. During the Great Depression, the base helped keep the city's economy afloat by providing jobs to local residents and procuring food and supplies from local merchants.

The local, state, and federal governments employ a significant number of workers in the state. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in March 2019, more than forty-four thousand nonfarm workers were employed in government. The trade, transportation, and utilities; professional and business services; and education and health services sectors also proved to have the highest number of employees. Some major employers as of 2018, according to the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce, included the the State of Alabama, Montgomery Public Schools, Baptist Health, and Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama.

Landmarks

Although it is a relatively small city, Montgomery boasts a diverse collection of tourist attractions and cultural venues. Many of these sites reflect the city's history and prominent citizens, while others are the signs of a modern, culturally rich city.

Montgomery contains a number of major art galleries. Among them are the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts and the Leon Loard Gallery of Fine Arts. Additionally, Montgomery features the Alabama Artists Gallery, dedicated to the presentation of works by Alabama residents, past and present. Montgomery also has a thriving performing arts community. The Montgomery Symphony Orchestra and the Montgomery Ballet are common draws, as is the Davis Theatre for the Performing Arts.

The city's museums are also diverse and popular. The Hank Williams Museum and the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum both celebrate the lives of three of the city's most prominent citizens. Additionally, in a nod to one of the city's biggest industries (livestock), Montgomery offers tourists the Alabama Cattlemen's MOOseum.

History

Montgomery's history is reflective of the many conflicts and divisions that shaped the American South. In 1816, the Mississippi Territory's legislative body voted to establish Montgomery County, naming the region after Major Lemuel Montgomery, who was the first soldier to fall at the 1814 Battle of Horseshoe Bend, which marked the end of the Creek War.

When the land was open for settlement, two investment groups purchased property in the region in the hopes that their settlements would become the county seat for the new city. Their often bitter competition over this issue would be resolved in 1819, when the two settlements merged and incorporated with the name of another Montgomery, the Revolutionary War hero Major Richard Montgomery.

In 1861, the city of Montgomery became a central figure in the schism between the North and South. Alabama joined South Carolina, Mississippi, and Florida as the first four states to secede from the Union. The secessionists named Jefferson Davis their president, inaugurating him in Montgomery and naming the city as the new capital of the Confederate States of America.

As the capital of the South during the Civil War, Montgomery served as the central command in the effort against the North. In fact, the order for Confederate troops to attack Fort Sumter in South Carolina (the first major battle of the Civil War, in which Union troops surrendered to Confederate forces) in early 1861 was issued from Montgomery's State Capitol.

Montgomery's history also includes a number of major technological advances. For example, the city was the home to the first electric streetcar system, which was constructed shortly after the Civil War in 1886. In the 1870s, the system was taken off line due to financial issues. Less than two decades later, the system was installed, as it was in other Southern cities.

In 1910, aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright conducted a series of night flights, the first of their kind, from an airfield in Montgomery. The airfield would later become the largest employer in the city, Maxwell Gunter Air Force Base.

The Wright brothers would also introduce another first in the region: the first school for powered flight. Other individuals would be able to study their groundbreaking work and continue to build on the foundations laid by the Wright brothers' revolutionary work. By this time, air travel was being increasingly used for mail delivery, and the school would help drive this growing industry. Today, that school is the US Air Force's Air University, located at Maxwell Gunter Air Force Base.

From 1955 to 1956, the Montgomery city bus boycott was one of the most famous events of the civil rights movement after Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat to a white man. The incident helped bring to a head long-simmering tension on racial segregation practices. Her arrest for this "crime" prompted a bus boycott that lasted over a year.

The Rosa Parks incident catapulted another civil rights icon into the spotlight. The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (who at the time was pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery) came into national prominence as a result of the incident. He helped organize a nationally publicized justice march from Selma to Montgomery.

Dr. King's church was itself a piece of history, dating back to 1879, when it was known as the Second Colored Baptist Church. Its name was changed later to the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. After King launched his civil rights efforts from the church's basement office, the church was renamed the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church in 1978. The simple brick structure became an inspiration for the city, which has long worked to overcome the divisions of its past.

The city became a significant part of the ongoing national debate regarding abortion rights when a law seeking to largely ban abortion was voted on in the state legislature in 2019.

Bibliography

"About Montgomery." Official Website for Montgomery, Alabama. City of Montgomery, 2018, www.montgomeryal.gov/live/about-montgomery. Accessed 26 Jan. 2018.

Dierenfield, Bruce. "Montgomery Bus Boycott." The Civil Rights Movement. Rev. ed., Routledge, 2013, pp. 45–53.

Hedgepeth Williams, Julie. Wings of Opportunity: The Wright Brothers in Montgomery, Alabama 1910. NewSouth, 2010.

"Largest Employers." Montgomery Chamber, Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce, www.choosemontgomery.com/about-montgomery-al/largest-employers/. Accessed 8 May 2019.

"Montgomery (City), Alabama." American FactFinder, US Census Bureau, 2017, factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/17‗5YR/DP05/1600000US0151000. Accessed 8 May 2019.

"Montgomery, AL." Forbes, 2018, www.forbes.com/places/al/montgomery/. Accessed 8 May 2019.

"Montgomery Area Economic Summary." Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Dept. of Labor, 1 May 2019, www.bls.gov/regions/southeast/summary/blssummary‗montgomery.pdf. Accessed 8 May 2019.

"QuickFacts: Montgomery (City), Alabama." US Census Bureau, US Dept. of Commerce, www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/montgomerycityalabama/PST045218. Accessed 8 May 2019.

Severance, Ben H. Portraits of Conflict: A Photographic History of Alabama in the Civil War. U of Arkansas P, 2012.